More Parking Coming to Richmond Heights Public Safety Building

Parking for the building that houses night court and the Richmond Heights fire﻿ and police departments has been tight since the facility opened in 2005. Just ask the city’s public relations coordinator Irene Johnson.

“When you grow, you have expanded needs,” she said. “On our court nights, the people who are on the docket need to have a place to park. For some time now, the overflow has gone onto our residential streets. That has been a concern for residents who live on, for example, Silverton, right around ﻿(Richmond Heights) City Hall﻿.”﻿

The parking lot for the public safety building on Dale Avenue has 84 spaces. The city hopes 34 new slots will help alleviate or lessen the overflow parking on residential streets.

﻿But will that be enough?

Johnson said city employees fill up more than 70 spaces on training and meeting days. That leaves about 10 available for public use.﻿ She added night court often requires parking for more than 150 vehicles, so overflow onto residential streets likely will continue.

Bruce Murray, director of public works for Richmond Heights, said the city is landlocked so it had to acquire nearby landfor additional parking. It was a “one-shot” chance, he said. ﻿

More than three years ago, owners of property immediately east of the public safety building offered the city the first opportunity to acquire their land and houses, Johnson said. City Council closed the deal, paying about $428,000, in December 2007.

The parking project is nearly complete. The city is waiting on the delivery of eight solar lights to illuminate the lot as part of the city’s sustainability efforts, Murray said. The lights are scheduled to be delivered and installed the week of Dec. 6, and the lot will open after that.

The price tag for the parking lot is about $163,000, which comes from the city’s capital improvement budget.Infrastructure Management served as the primary contractor on the project and collaborated with public works crews. ﻿